River Stakeholders
Colorado River Water Use Highlights:
Arizona Colorado River Water Use:
Lake Mead Conservation and Post-2026 Operations
Arizona’s efforts to help negotiate new guidelines for operating the Colorado River system have been an important focus of the state’s water management portfolio for several years, but as the clock rapidly runs out on current negotiations, our efforts now take on an even greater urgency.
Arizona’s views on appropriate river management can be summed up succinctly: Those who benefit from what the river provides in times of plenty must share in protecting the river’s health in times of water scarcity.
We seek to do so in a way that equitably reflects the enormous value of the river to all those who benefit from it, including nearly 40 million people in seven states, two nations and dozens of sovereign Native tribes.
Arizona and California were responsible for unprecedented levels of conservation in the two years prior to 2025. Three million acre-feet of conservation – one-half of which occurred during 2023 and 2024 – is being accomplished by verified, physical reductions in use. The conservation has been accomplished through voluntary, compensated reductions.
In all, Arizona and California have delivered on their commitments by conserving unprecedented volumes to support the Colorado River system. This effort is a continuation of Arizona’s commitment to conserve, which has produced 4.6 million acre-feet of additional water for the Colorado River since 2014.
Tribal Water Settlements
In March, members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation from both sides of the aisle led the way in reintroducing legislation to ratify and fund the historic Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement.
The Tribal water-rights legislation was originally introduced in Congress in 2024 to ratify and fund the settlement agreement entered into between the State of Arizona, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, and numerous other Arizona parties.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed the settlement agreement on Nov. 19, 2024.
Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP)
The 50-year MSCP turned 20 years old in 2025. Reclamation manages the program, which aims to create more than 8,300 acres of new habitat within the Lower Colorado River floodplain. Already, species have reappeared, including Summer Tanager, Northern Mexican Gartersnake and Yellow-Billed Cuckoo. CAP celebrated the anniversary by publishing an oral history, interviewing representatives from the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada, as well as Reclamation.
Water Quality Guidance Document
In September, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board approved Reclamation’s edits to a Water Quality Guidance Document to introduce NonProject Water (non-Colorado River water) directly into the CAP canal. This revised version establishes uniform water quality standards under CAP’s System Use Agreement and paves the way for future flexibility in the uses of the CAP canal.
Yuma Agriculture
Yuma agriculture is important to Arizona and America, with a multibilliondollar annual economy that employs the region and supplies the majority of the nation’s winter vegetables.
Nowhere else in the country can substitute for Yuma’s winter vegetables. Yuma farmers have no source of water other than the Colorado River. Yuma wants to see a post-2026 plan for the river that protects the system’s water delivery and power generation, rebuilds the contents of the system and maintains the priority system as the starting rule for deliveries in the Lower Basin.
Yuma farmers invest every year in conservation that leaves hundreds of thousands of acre-feet in the system for lower priority users in Arizona to use and store. Water conservation measures that will yield additional water in other conservation regions have already been in place in Yuma for years. These conservation strategies are not standard Basin-wide.
Salt River Project (SRP) – Salt & Verde River System
For over 120 years, SRP has delivered reliable water to more than 2.5 million Phoenix metropolitan area residents. Water Year 2025 on SRP’s watershed was the lowest runoff on record, which contrasts the banner 2023 inflow and highlights the watershed’s hydrologic variability and the importance of SRP’s water management.
SRP has kept its system resilient through prudent water management, conservation and customer outreach. SRP uses cutting-edge forecasting tools and works with numerous forest health partners on strategic watershed initiatives, including a goal to support thinning 800,000 acres by 2035 to mitigate wildfire impacts on water supplies and watershed communities.
Reclamation published a Notice of Intent in July to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Project (VRSMP). The VRSMP EIS will evaluate potential alternatives, including construction of a new, larger Bartlett Dam, which would address impacts of accumulating sediment, expand the reservoir’s storage capacity, and provide a more reliable and resilient water supply.